Comic book movie adaptations have never been as big as they are today. In the past decade, Marvel Studios has embarked on an enormous film franchise based around its various superhero characters - who inhabit the same universe and have interconnecting stories. Now, set within this universe, the studio has rolled out its first foray into television in the form of the hugely anticipated new drama series Agents of SHIELD (Channel 4).

It’s been a year since the Avengers film, which saw the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye and Black Widow brought together by the mysterious Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division (known as SHIELD) to protect the Earth from Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) rogue adoptive brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Now, for this spin-off, we’re in the world of SHIELD, the government agency put together to investigate the emergence of superheroes on Earth.

Returning to the helm is geek god Joss Whedon (the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dollhouse), who also wrote this first episode along with his brother Jed and sister-in-law Maurissa Tancharoen.

But here, SHIELD’s boss Nick Fury (played by Samuel L Jackson in Avengers Assemble) isn't seen and barely mentioned, at least in this first episode. It is Agent Coulson (a charmingly wry Clark Gregg) who takes centre stage. According to the Marvel Universe, Coulson died in the battle for New York. But that’s hardly a deterrent for Whedon, who also killed off Buffy before quickly bringing her back from the dead in 2001. So despite still being officially deceased according to those less in the know in the government, it seems that Coulson was actually swiftly resuscitated and sent to recover in Tahiti ("Welcome to Level 7") – or so he thinks. There’s a secret that we’ll have to keep watching to discover (“He can never know,” says Agent Hill (Colbie Smulders) mysteriously).

The opening plotline was simple: the agency wanted to bring in a new, unidentified superhero (J August Richards, who also starred in Whedon’s Buffy spin-off Angel) who’s running loose. Many clues to future plots are dropped: the ace veteran agent (Ming-Na Wen) who’s been pulled back into the field after an unknown traumatic event caused her to give up the job; the black-ops specialist (Brett Dalton as a typically Whedian tall, dark, handsome and brooding but bland man) with a “family history”; the quick-witted hacktivist (Chloe Bennet) who’s obsessed with superheroes; and, of course, how Coulson found his way back from the dead. All seemed appealing enough to want to know more.

The big question was whether anyone else from the Avengers would drop into the opening episode. In a word, no. Not a single familiar superhero popped his head around the door. A quick cameo from Iron Man or Captain America (Coulson’s favourite) would have blurred the lines between movie and TV thrillingly – though it was admittedly unlikely. Yet we can cling to the possibility of this happening in future episodes.

The sparky pun-heavy Whedon-esque dialogue was present, though it occasionally fell into some hammy clichés (“they’re good, we need better”). Overall, though neither bad nor boring, this was not to the standard expected from such a high-pressure entry into the vast Marvel Universe canon. This is much less a superhero series than a secret agent series. The only superhero who did appear spent a dishearteningly tiny amount of time on fighting or throwing heavy things. Sorry to disappoint, but this is not a TV series made on the scale of Avengers Assemble, Iron Man, or any of the other franchise’s films.

That said, this is merely episode one and there’s certainly enough here to turn into a solid series once it hits its swing. When the show premiered in the US on Tuesday, it became the country’s biggest TV debut in four years (since V). With a fanbase as strong as Whedon’s, he will be given ample opportunity to re-establish his comic book credentials.